


Entanglements

by whiteraven1606



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, The Avengers (2012), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Anxiety, Canon Het Relationship, Crossover, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Open Relationships, Panic Attacks, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyfidelity, Post Avengers (Movie), References to attempted suicide, Reunions, Temporary Character Death, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-05 16:22:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/725339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Betty is halfway through her non-disclosure paperwork for her new job under NORAD when the New York invasion starts. She needs to get to Bruce before he disappears again. Then her life...changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had no intention of writing this until after I got done with the WIPs. What can I say? Betty is a pushy character. Pushy. She crawled into my brain and was trying to insert herself into a story she's not to be in. :P So, I wrote this one to get her out. It was supposed to be about 2k. Yeah. Oops?
> 
> I'm primarily a slash writer and I, for very personal reasons, don't think I'll be able to write explicit scenes involving a female. That said, this evolved into a threesome. Betty knows what Bruce wants, it seems. So. We'll just have to see how it goes.

****

Betty frowned as she moved on to the next non-disclosure form. She couldn't be fully briefed until she'd read and signed all the paperwork and the last of her clearances came through. From the smile on General O'Neill's face when she told him she was joining their program to piss off her father, Betty was fairly certain her clearances would be approved in short order.

There was a scramble out in the hallway and an Airman stuck his head in the room. "Everyone to the mess hall. Now!"

Betty quickly gathered up her paperwork and trailed along with the other new recruits, most military, but there were a couple of civilians like her, and then they were all crowded around a single TV up in the corner of the mess staring at a battle in New York.

Betty nearly dropped her papers as she watched Hulk swat a flying-something from the sky. "Bruce." She turned and started looking for the highest ranked person in the room. "Sir? I need to get out of the base."

He looked down at her and scowled. "Ma'am?"

She pointed at the TV. "I have to get there."

He shook his head. "If you've got family or..."

"No." She stepped into his space and glared up at him. "I _need_ to get there. Now can you get me into the elevator or not?"

He lifted his eyebrows. "You have your orders?"

She rifled through her papers as she kept one eye on the TV. Like that could keep Hulk there long enough for her to reach him, sure. She thrust her orders at the soldier. "Here."

He scanned them. "SGC. Awesome." He took her by her upper arm. "Ma'am, you are about to get the crash course. Start signing anything you hadn't gotten to yet."

She nodded and let him guide her along as she scrawled her name across every paper, sometimes even getting it on the right line. They carded into the elevator and then she rounded on him because they were not going up. "Where are you taking me? I need to get to New York."

"Trust me, ma'am."

Betty huffed and rechecked her paperwork. "If I miss my chance to reach him, I will gut you."

"Duly noted, ma'am."

****

Betty paced in the conference room she'd been shoved into. She knew she couldn't make it back up the levels to get out on her own without setting off alarms, not with the changing elevators halfway down and all. She whirled around as the other door, the one she'd not come in by and General O'Neill, along with another man, came through, arguing.

"...all I'm saying is that with that...portal...we probably shouldn't try firing on it. What if it just hits the city instead?"

"That's why I was ordering reentry to get the ship low enough to take a railgun shot from the side. If the WSC wasn't just a bunch of rat bastards we might have avoided the need for the Avengers to really piss them off." O'Neill looked from the man to her standing there fuming. "Ah, right. And then there's Dr. Ross."

"Dr. Banner. I changed my name."

He cocked his head. "Oookay. You do know maybe the guy you want to marry ought to be involved, yeah?"

"If I could get near him I'd ask, but since Father threatened to make him disappear if I did, I then decided to do the next must infuriating thing I could." She shoved her papers across the table at them. "All signed. I need leave. I have to get to New York before the fight is over and he's gone again."

The other man with O'Neill blinked and looked from O'Neill to her. "You...Jack! You can't just _spring_ that on her."

O'Neill grinned. "Aww, come on, Daniel she'll be fine. She's..." He waved a hand at her. "...Carter with brown hair."

Betty put her hands on her hips. "Carter?"

Daniel looked at her and made a well-yeah-maybe face. "She's a friend. Teammate." He turned back to O'Neill. "Jack, at least explain..."

O'Neill smiled wider. "Nah." He took a small device from his pocket as Daniel sighed and crossed his arms. O'Neill motioned her closer. "Stand still and, please, don't scream. Okay?"

She frowned at him, standing still where he pointed. "Oka..." She blinked at the new room around them. "-y." She turned and stared at a live little Roswell alien staring back at her with wide eyes from behind a nearby console. She rounded on O'Neill. "That had better not have just killed and cloned me."

He smacked Daniel on the arm. "See?" He slung his arm around her shoulders and waved to the Roswell alien. "How's it hanging, H?"

Betty got the impression of exasperated affection as the Roswell alien sighed.

"Nothing is hanging, O'Neill."

O'Neill just grinned and out into a busy corridor they went. Betty kept track of doors and turns until they came out on an honest-to-goodness _Star Trek_ like bridge. She stared down at the Earth under them, the portal over New York like an ugly cloud hanging between the ship and the surface of the planet.

"Oh." Betty moved closer, right out from under O'Neill's arm, and firmly told her panicing brain that there had to be something between her and space or they'd all be dead already. Clear glass, forcefield, something. She adjusted her glasses as she took it all in. "Firing down on that wouldn't work."

"See, Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack, I can see we're going to be explaining to her for days instead of breaking it in gently."

She looked over her shoulder at them. "I don't think there's a gentle setting for breaking in this sort of news." She turned back and looked down on the battle below. "Is Bruce still fighting?"

****

They put her in tactical gear before sending her down with an escort as the ship had to take people to a sarcophagus. Betty didn't ask because she figured they'd get around to explaining later, when she properly read-in to the program.

They set down not a block from Stark Tower. Betty tried to just go, but her escort was really serious about her safety. 

"Trust me, ma'am, if I let something happen to you I will not live to get home to Atlantis."

Betty blinked at that, but ignored it as the really tall man, Ronon, kicked a body of one of the alien soldiers.

"Feels like half-replicator."

"Yeah, that doesn't make this any less creepy. Thanks for that, Ronon."

Ronon grinned as he lead out on point. "At least they aren't Wraith, Shep."

The officer, whose name tag said Sheppard not Shep, grinned at her. "He's got a point."

She forced a smile. "I didn't get through the read-in yet. What's a Wraith?"

Sheppard shook his head as they moved down the street, checking each downed body as they went. "You really don't want to know." They rounded the corner and Sheppard and Ronon flaked her as they hit the edge of a crowd around the base of Stark Tower. "Ma'am, stick close. Ronon, make us a path."

Sheppard crowded up against her back and pushed her close to Ronon. Betty let them as the crowd parted like Ronon was going to kill them if they didn't. Betty could hear Sheppard muttering about wishing he didn't have to come to Earth for yearly evals and isn't that what email is for, shit, move people.

Betty tried to keep her breathing even as they got to the closed doors. Ronon did something to it and the door gave way. Betty and Sheppard darted in and Ronon pushed the door closed against the crowd.

"Sheppard, is there anything that can be done?"

Sheppard grimaced. "I'm betting the higher ups are arguing what response plan to go with right now. It'll be better in a few hours." He turned towards her and shrugged. "Maybe days."

Betty headed for the elevators. "We'll work on them once I've gotten to talk to Bruce. No one out there looked like they were bleeding heavily. They can wait."

Sheppard gave her a little half-smile. "I like you." He looked up at the elevator indicators. "Which floor do you think?"

She hit the call button. "Topmost."

"You are not cleared for the Penthouse level."

They all started and Ronon pointed his weapon at the ceiling.

Betty glared up at what looked like a tiny security camera housing. "I don't _care_ what I am cleared for. I want to talk to Doctor Bruce Banner or the Hulk, whichever. And I want to do it NOW!"

There was a pause and then the elevator opened up without the little ding they normally had. Betty stomped on and turned as Sheppard and Ronon crowded in with her to keep the doors from being able to separate them.

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot as the elevator started to moving.

Sheppard leaned into a corner. "I met General Ross once."

She snorted. "Good for you."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "If it helps, I like you a lot better."

Betty covered her mouth as she barked out a horrible sounding laugh.

****

Tony balled up his food's wrapper as Bruce kept stuffing his face. "Good?"

Across from Tony, Clint nodded and relaxed down into his seat a tiny bit more.

Tony's phone beeped with the 'JARVIS needs a determination, now, now, now' tone. Tony pulled it from his pocket, happy that Stark tech had held up to space and being throw around in a tin can all in one day. He checked the display and grinned. "Awesome."

Tapping out a command, Tony turned his head toward the bedraggled owners of the shop. "I need some orders to go. We've got a meeting in the Tower to get to." He dug into his other pocket for his back up cash. Keeping the small bills for the major emergencies when no one would take a hundred, Tony peeled off three of his hundreds to give to them.

The rest of the Avengers, well, not Cap who was asleep, were staring at him. Bruce was staring and still eating.

Tony came back over and clapped Bruce on the shoulder. "Company at the Tower. Friends of a friend of mine. We should go."

They shook Cap awake and picked their way back to the Tower. Tony lead them into a subway entrance before they got to the crowd and took them in through the emergency exit access door in the subway tunnel.

He watched Bruce as the elevator took them up.

****

Betty wanted to stomp out of the elevator, but Sheppard went first, motioning for Ronon to hold her back until they'd cleared the room. Betty stared at the damaged floor in front of them as Sheppard called it clear.

Betty moved slowly, looking down at the dents and rubble. "Hulk." She looked around. "Bruce?"

"Doctor Bruce Banner will be here shortly."

They all looked up at the ceiling again. 

Betty nudged the rubble with her toe. "You promise?"

"I ensure you that the Avengers are currently walking back to the Tower as I speak. They are bringing food should you be hungry, Doctor Banner."

Betty smiled. "You know I changed my name? It only became official a few days ago. I haven't even gotten to piss off Father with it yet."

"I could inform him, if you would like, Doctor."

Flopping on the couch across from the damage, Betty laughed. "No, I want to see his face."

"I am capable of video recording."

She smiled up at the ceiling. "What's your name?"

"I am called JARVIS."

"Thank you, JARVIS. Is there any way you could arrange for it to be in the middle of a press conference or something?"

"That can be arranged."

Sheppard snorted and sat down on the steps from the elevator. Ronon moved to the outer edge of the room and paced restlessly.

Betty folded her hands in her lap and waited.

****

Bruce frowned as Tony took the food boxes from him and shoved them at Thor. "Tony."

"Trust me, Bruce, you don't want anything in your arms."

He frowned and started to ask why when the elevator doors opened on the Penthouse level where he could vaguely remember the other guy slamming Loki into the floor several times. He stared at the damage until, only a moment later, there was a gasp. Bruce looked that way.

"Bruce." Betty hurled herself at him and Bruce staggered backwards into Clint as she become an octopus-armed clinging _Betty_. Bruce buried his face in her hair, her neck, and just _breathed_.

****

Tony patted Bruce on the shoulder, eased around them in the elevator doorway, and smiled at Sheppard. "Shep! How's it hanging?"

John Sheppard stood up and clasped hands before pulling Tony into a hug. "Not bad, not bad. You?"

Tony leaned back and moved so Thor could get out of the elevator around the Bruce and Betty lump that was crying and rocking now. "Pretty good. Saved the world today."

Sheppard smiled. "I think I'm still ahead."

Tony grinned. "Are we keeping score, honey-bear?"

Sheppard shrugged. "Nah. You'd never catch up."

"True." Tony got himself a drink and took the food from Thor to put in the fridge. "Do we know yet?"

Sheppard's smiled faded. "Not yet. It can be iffy in the first place and then you add in the cube issue..."

Tony nodded and downed his drink. "O'Neill seemed to think it'd go."

"O'Neill has also been dead more than most of us."

Tony started counting on his fingers until he realized everyone, even Betty and Bruce, were all staring at him. "Yeah...We should probably sit down for this."

Ronon came over and Tony took the deepest breath he could before being engulfed in a Ronon bear hug.

****

Bruce lifted his head from Betty's shoulder as Tony's friend said someone's name Bruce didn't recognize had been dead more than most of them. He and Betty exchanged looks and turned towards Tony to find him counting on his fingers.

"Yeah...We should probably sit down for this."

Bruce looked at Betty as she started to giggle, turning her face into his chest, and laughing harder as Ronon swept Tony up into a hug. "Why are you laughing?"

Betty shook her head and Bruce let Natasha herd them towards one of the couches. They sat down and then scooted closer together so Clint could sit next to them.

Bruce couldn't help himself, he kept looking at the horrible mess the other guy had made of Tony's floor.

Tony flopped across from them and tilted his head to look at Steve asleep on the end of his couch. "Is he okay?"

Natasha held her hand close to Steve's mouth. "His breathing is alright." She sat on the edge of the couch beside Steve's hip. "What exactly were you talking about just now, Stark?"

Tony spread his arms along the back of his couch. "How much do you know about the SGC?"

Clint started and blinked at them. "Coulson was with them before SHEILD." He froze and looked down at his hands. "Nat..."

Natasha reached across the space between them and punched Clint on the thigh. "Stop. You weren't responsible, Clint."

Clint snorted. "Not responsible...Nat, I _shot_ the Director."

Tony leaned forward as he waved his hands around. "In the chest, where the body armor was. Why not in the head?"

Clint blinked.

Bruce could see him thinking it through, but Bruce knew it would never completely erase the feeling of being responsible. "SGC?"

Tony beamed. "We'll get everyone clearance later to know it all. Short version they have tech that can bring the dead back all healed up."

Sheppard rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That's the extremely short version."

"What can I say? I'm to the point."

Bruce snorted and hugged Betty to his side. "Why are you in body armor?"

She giggled. "I started a new job." She turned her face into his chest. "There was a Roswell gray and I think I was killed and cloned, twice, and my name change was finalized three days ago."

Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Killed and cloned?"

Sheppard shook his head. "No, she wasn't killed and cloned. I'll get McKay to explain the Asgard transporter system to you later. 

Thor looked confused. "Asgard?"

Tony beamed. "This is the really fun part."

Bruce looked around at the exhaustion, the near hysterical expressions, and Steve dead to the world. "Tony, we'll listen to it after we get some sleep."

Thor frowned, but then nodded. "Aye."

****

John Sheppard kept guard over the Avengers and Betty as they slept. 

Ronon poked through the food. "You think the box thing can save them?"

"Probably. Most of the injuries were burns or breaks. The sarcophagus can handle those. The one that McKay was fussing about was that stab wound." John looked out and down the hole in the windows. The crowd below had thinned as night started to fall. "We wouldn't even have tried it if SHEILD and the SGC didn't have that treaty with the MIB."

Ronon snorted and put the food he'd chosen into the microwave. He frowned as it started up before he could hit a button. "That's a lot of non-words, Sheppard."

"Oh, yeah, sorry, acronyms." John wondered over to peer at the microwave with Ronon. "Like the City's little ovens?"

"I apologize, I should have informed you that I was controlling the length of rewarming to help you best enjoy your food."

John wrinkled his nose and turned as the elevator opened. "No problem, JARVIS."

"TONY!" A pretty redhead came from the elevator and stopped to stare open-mouthed at the damage to the floor. "Oh...oh, my God." She looked up as John approached. "Who are...TONY!"

John held out his empty hands. "I'm Colonel John Sheppard, ma'am. Mr. Stark is sleeping."

Tony came from the far hallway, yawning as he rubbed at his chest. "What, Pep? I'm..."

She wrapped him up in a hug and hit him on the back of his shoulder as she held him. "Are you insane? You idiot. I can't believe..."

"What? Why are you calling me an idiot? I couldn't just let a nuke drop on the city, could I? And I know what it looks like, but I want to keep the Loki-dents..."

"...you could be so damn stupid. You had to _ride_ the nuke into the portal? You couldn't have just aimed it and let go? I mean, seriously, Tony, you designed the damn things, aren't they capable of going in a straight line?"

"...Bruce made it while he was green. Do you think it'll bother him if I keep it? I don't want him to go away. It would have just turned itself around that's what self-guidance to target means. And I need to hire someone away from the SGC. Pretty little thing, if she wasn't Bruce's girl I'd really want to keep her myself, Dr. Elizabeth Banner..."

John leaned over to Ronon. "Is that what McKay and I sound like?"

Ronon nodded solemnly. "McKay whines more."

John laughed.

****

Bruce pushed Betty's bangs out of her face. "Transporters?"

She smiled and stroked his cheek, down his neck, and then repeated it all over again. "I was on a spaceship. Air Force. I...got really mad about Harlem."

Bruce ducked his head and Betty started to card her fingers through his hair, making dust drift down. "I had to go."

"I know." She smiled sadly at him and cupped his face with her hands. "I really do know, Bruce."

He brought his hands up to her shoulders. "Is your wrist alright?"

She flexed it to show him the movement. "It healed up fine." She put her hands back on him, little roaming touches as she looked him over. "You look...different?"

He looked down. "I, uh..." He licked his lips. "I tried to kill myself in the Arctic." He touched his head. "Bullet."

"Oh, Bruce." She wrapped herself around him. "I'm glad it didn't work."

He huffed a strangled little laugh out and clung to her.

"I'm so proud of you."

He jerked back and stared at her. "What?"

Betty smiled and ran her fingers over his hair before looking at the dirt on her fingers. "You heard me. Let's get cleaned up. Can we shower somewhere, Mr. JARVIS?"

Bruce stared after her as Betty let JARVIS explain where towels and extra clothes where. Tony had told Bruce this was his suite, but he'd not said anything about clothes in the closet in Betty's size.

"Oh, look, Bruce." Betty held up a slik robe in her favorite color. She came to stand between his knees. "Tired?"

He nodded and let her help pull him up. They stumbled together into the bathroom. It wasn't as huge as Bruce had expected given Tony's nature. It was all in calming colors and the floor was warm under their feet. 

Bruce looked up at the ceiling and just stood there.

"Bruce?"

"Did you notice the ceilings?"

She looked up and then at him. "What about them?"

Bruce sat down on the wide bench along the shower's wall. "They are tall enough for the other guy." He pointed at the controls on the shower. "Those too. Big enough."

Betty looked around and smiled. "When Stark tries to get me from the SGC I just might have to accept a job offer." She put her hand on his shoulder. "Is it bad that he's planned for all of you?"

Bruce shook his head. "No...No, I just..." He looked up at her. "He caught Tony when he was falling from the portal and I don't know what to make of it."

Betty sighed and knelt down to pull off Bruce's shoes. When he was brooding, getting him to do physical tasks was touchy. She tugged on his shoelaces. "What do you mean? He protected me."

"I'd known Tony for less than a day." Bruce started unbuttoning his shirt. "I mean, I know he's intelligent, Betty. I just...why did he decide to like _Tony_?"

Pressing gently on his calf, Betty slipped off Bruce's sock. "Do you like Tony?"

****

Betty watched Bruce grin that bashful, oh, yes, grin she could remember from the days before he'd built up the courage to talk to her.

"Yeah. He...He's crazy." Bruce pulled his shirt off and reached down to help her up. "He prodded me with a little pointy thing and offered me blueberries from a bag."

Betty bit the inside of her cheek as she stripped out of the gear and BDUs she'd been wearing. "He wasn't scared?"

Bruce touched the side of his nose. "He didn't smell scared. Not even a little. He was trusting that I could handle it, no question."

Betty wanted to ask when he'd figured out he could smell that sort of thing, but she pushed down the desire. Bruce would get around to explaining it when he realized she didn't know. Betty touched the water control and felt the water raining down. "Oh, warm already."

Bruce stood outside of the water with his hands on his waistband. "Betty..."

"Bruce, I changed my last name to Banner. Get your ass in here. Now."

He grinned and shoved down his trousers. "To Banner? Really?"

She smiled at him and held out her hand until he stepped in with her. They scrubbed dirt and dried muck off him. There was bits of blue in places that Betty thought was probably dried alien blood. Betty smiled and let Bruce wash her hair, playing with it for a long while before they rinsed off.

Betty wrapped him in a hug as he leaned against the wall and stared at his feet for a long time. She turned the water off and got the huge towel from the warming rack. Wrapping Bruce up in it, Betty got another towel for his hair. She rubbed at his head until he blinked and took over.

Getting another towel from the rack, she rubbed herself down, and put on the pretty silk robe from the closet that fit her just right. Betty decided she was probably going to like Tony, too.

Betty helped Bruce slip into a robe for him. She got them out into the bedroom and Bruce headed for the bed in that dazed, slow way she remembered from the last time she'd helped him post-Hulk.

She climbed into bed with him and smiled as he wrapped her up in his arms before starting to snore. Wiggling around until she was facing the wall, Betty looked up at the ceiling. "Mr. JARVIS?"

"Yes, Dr. Banner?"

"Do you have footage of Hulk catching Mr. Stark?"

"Yes."

The wall lit up and Betty watched a shaky video of Hulk shedding velocity on the side of a building.

"Wow." Betty petted Bruce's forearms around herself. "That's just...wow."

****

Betty woke up next to Bruce. She smiled and kissed his forearm still wrapped over her. She slipped out from under him and pulled the covers down to look him over. His face was broader now, hair peppered with gray, and he must have taken some horrible hits along his shoulders from the redness.

She could still remember the sunburn look on the side of his face from direct hits by grenades. "Oh, Bruce."

He shifted in his sleep and his hand started moving, a little frown appearing on his face. Betty grabbed up his hand and sat it on her thigh. Bruce sighed and rolled a little towards her before going back to sleep.

Betty sat and enjoyed the quiet presence of him, capable of just sleeping, of being beside her.

****

Bruce woke to the strange feeling of a body next to him. He blinked his eyes open and found Betty asleep, sitting up, next to him. Bruce yawned and looked her over. "Betty."

When that didn't wake her, Bruce shifted so he could ease her down onto the mattress with him. She sighed and grabbed a handful of his hair tightly. Bruce winced and tried to ease her hold.

"Bruce."

He rubbed her back because she sounded so desperate. "I'm right here, Betty. I'm not going anywhere."

She gasped and came awake. "I did catch up to you." She smiled and touched her nose to his. "Bruce."

He rubbed her spine and lifted his nose to touch her's again. "Betty."

They smiled at each other and Bruce's stomach chose that moment to rumble. 

Betty laughed. "Hungry?"

He smiled. "Maybe a little."

****

Betty kept close to Bruce's side as they wondered out into the living room. She prodded Bruce when he seemed to get stuck staring at the damaged floor. "Food."

He smiled a little sheepishly at her and they went looking for a kitchen.

Betty sat down at the kitchen table across from Tony Stark, who was looking at a tablet, arguing on the phone, and eating all at once. She watched Bruce do that shy shamble he'd used around her for months in the early days. It'd grown rarer once he was sure she liked him as well.

Betty smiled up at Bruce as he sat a cup of coffee in front of her. "Thanks."

He sat down next to her with another cup. "Morning, Tony."

Tony cut his call without even saying goodbye and beamed at them both. "Morning, lovebirds."

She smiled as Bruce looked down at his cup. "You have a job offer ready for me yet?"

Tony pointed at her with his fork. "See? I knew I'd like you." He looked them over. "Hungry, Big Guy?"

Bruce rubbed his hair. "Yeah." His stomach rumbled again.

Tony slid the tablet across the tablet. "Here. Look at the nano-materiel and see if you think the stretch will be enough for pants for you." He got up and moved to the fridge. "What do you want? If I don't have it, I can get it. No trouble." He turned and pointed at Bruce. "Seriously, no trouble, Brucey."

Betty blinked when Bruce didn't snap about the nickname and just started to look over the tablet instead.

****

They still hadn't heard from the SGC by noon. Sheppard and Ronon were out on the balcony putting in a new glass panels where they'd been broken.

Natasha and Clint were helping identify children from what little information they could give about themselves or their families on video. Matching the children's' videos taken at the various sites to the adults' videos of missing children. They'd enlisted JARVIS' help with matching up and trying to get non-verbal children figured out.

Thor was guarding his brother, probably trying to talk to him, several floors down.

Steve was out with the search crews doing delicate heavy lifting.

Tony was working on setting up recycling units to get the rubble cleared.

Bruce was sleeping on the couch next to Betty, the sunburn look to his shoulders was starting to fade where his shirt didn't cover it up. 

Betty was feeling useless. Well, she was keeping Bruce calm through nightmares that had him whimpering until she would thread her fingers through his hair. Mostly useless, though.

Tony came to sit on the coffee table in front of them. "Hi."

She smiled softly at him. "Hello."

"He loves you."

Betty nodded. "I know." She reached out and touched Tony's knee. "He's bashful at first. Shy. He's always been that way."

Tony's eyebrows went up. "I...I'm not trying..." He frowned and shook his head a little. "I'm not trying to take him from you."

"I figured that out when I saw my favorite colored clothes in the closet right beside his."

Tony shrugged and looked down at his fidgety hands. "He deserves better than..." He gestured in the direction Harlem. "Any of it. You know?"

Betty knew. "Yes." She tapped his knee. "You are the first person that has ever just _accepted_ the Hulk. That wasn't worried or scared of dealing with him." She pointed at the ceiling. "Ceilings tall enough. Shower controls big enough. He isn't stupid, Stark."

Tony looked around and then stared at her. "Neither are you, Dr. Banner."

She smiled. "We'll see what happens." She stroked Bruce's hair. "He's going to be hungry when he wakes up again. I don't think he's ever done so much fighting a one time."

Tony stood and touched Bruce's shoulder gently. "Feeding him isn't a hardship."

Nodding, Betty watched him go back to the planing.

****

The news came just before dinner. Betty watched Tony practically climb the walls in the time it took Sheppard to arrange to drop one of the people saved by the SGC's efforts to their location.

Betty thought the transporter light certainly looked pretty. "Is that what it always looks like?"

Ronon glanced at her. "This type, yes."

Bruce blinked and looked at him. "There's more than one type?"

"Agent!" Tony wrapped up a tired looking guy in scrubs into a tight hug.

"Do not make me tase you, Stark."

Tony laughed and pulled back, clapping the man on the back. "I wouldn't even care. We saved the world because of you."

The man blinked and looked towards Bruce and Betty. "What?"

Bruce smiled. "I like to think we'd have pulled together without Fury guilting Steve and Tony with your death, but..." He shrugged. "...what do I know?"

The man narrowed his eyes. "What _exactly_ did the Director do?"

Tony flapped a hand. "I've got them at the best restoration place I know. Thomas thinks they can get the blood out without too much fading."

"Oh." The man's hands clenched up and then relaxed. He nodded to her. "Dr. Ross, pleased to meet you. I'm Agent Coulson of SHEILD."

She smiled at him. "Dr. Banner. I changed my name."

Coulson barely blinked, nodded, and turned towards Tony. "Do you know where the Hellicarrier is docked? I need to go punch someone."

Tony grinned wide. "You really ought to stay for dinner first. Natasha and Clint would probably like to, I don't know, hug you, or something."

"He's alright? We got him back?" Coulson let them herd him as they headed for the dinning room to surprise the others.

Tony gestured to the dinner room entrance. "See for yourself."

****

Bruce held Betty's hand as Coulson was mobbed by Natasha, Clint, and Thor. Steve hung back a little, smiling. Betty leaned into him as everyone hugged and Coulson looked Clint over carefully. 

Bruce squeezed Betty's hand. "Family."

Betty smiled up at him. "Family we found for ourselves."

Bruce kissed her hair and let her pull him in to join the hugfest the reunion had turned into.

****

Betty snagged Tony by the sleeve as he started to walk around the back of the couch. "Help me get him to bed."

Tony got that trapped expression and looked around the room at the sleeping bodies of the others. "Not comfortable where you are?"

Betty smiled up at him. "Help me or I won't help you get into his pants."

Tony grinned. "Blackmail already? I'm liking you more and more."

She tugged on Bruce's earlobe. "Honey, bedtime."

He grumbled, but let Tony pull him off her lap. Betty stood, shaking out each leg before slipping under Bruce's free arm and helping Tony support him.

Tony frowned as Bruce just flopped half-on and half-off the bed. "Uhm..."

She pulled at Bruce's shoelaces. "You do want in his pants, right?"

He glanced at her before starting to work on the other shoe's laces. "Oh, you have no idea."

"I think I might." She put the shoe aside and started working on Bruce's shirt buttons. "He couldn't the last time we had a chance. Before Harlem."

"Fuck." Tony mimicked her on Bruce's other cuff. "He's not...At all?"

Betty sighed. "I don't think so. His heartrate skyrocketed and he made us stop."

Tony hummed. "I think he has worked out the heartrate triggering transformations problem." He tugged Bruce upright so Betty could pull the shirt down and off his arms. "You...don't mind?"

"No. Be quiet for a minute." Betty pushed gently on the sole of Bruce's foot until he grumbled and crawled on up the bed. She soothed him as she pulled his trousers off, smiling at no underwear, before flicking the blanket over him. "You're alright. Sleep, Bruce."

He snaked a hand out of the covers and grasped her wrist. Then, he started to snore.

Betty looked over at Tony. "I don't mind. Even if you just want him. As long as you can share him with me then, no, I don't mind."

Tony rubbed his hand over the bottom of his face. "Seriously?"

She sat down and turned her wrist in Bruce's hold to make them both more comfortable. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No." Tony put his hands in his pockets. "I...Let me think." He looked worried. "Is that okay?"

She cocked her head. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"

He blinked and looked down at his feet. "I get..." He looked everywhere, except at her or Bruce. "I get everything wrong in relationships. Pepper tried and I just..." He bit his lip. "You'll tell me if I'm hurting him? I probably won't be able to tell."

Betty nodded. "I'll tell you." She made a shooing motion. "Go think."

He wondered out, rubbing the back of his head.

Betty waited until she heard the suite door shut. "Mr. JARVIS, has he had a serious romantic relationship before?"

"One that has recently come apart."

Betty scratched her face between her eyebrows as she thought. "Do you think he wants to be with just Bruce or both of us?" She looked up at the ceiling as there was a long pause. "I'm not asking to hurt him. I meant it when I said I'd share."

"Dr. Banner has not been consulted."

She blinked. "Oh." She patted Bruce's hand where it was loose around her other wrist. "He's in the bashful stage. We have to wait for the brave stage to bring it up to him." She looked back up at the ceiling. "I'm not going to force either of them into anything, Mr. JARVIS."

"You do tend towards blackmail, Doctor Banner."

Betty giggled and covered her face with her free hand. "Oh. I...Mr. JARVIS, I wouldn't blackmail someone into a relationship or to keep them in one." She waved her hand over Bruce. "To get help to get him to bed, yes. He's heavy. I have ethics about how I apply blackmail."

"In that case, to answer your pervious question, I believe Sir would like both of you."

****

Betty wan't expecting for Thor to talk to her at all. She stared up at him. "Hello?"

He smiled and sat down next to her. "You are the..." He frowned. "I mean no offense, I do not know Midgard's proper wording for what I mean."

Betty brushed her hair back over her shoulders. "Just say whatever you are going to say. I'll tell you if we'd use a different word."

Thor nodded. "Very well. You are the mate of Bruce and his other self?"

Betty blinked. "Oookay. Don't use mate, say girlfriend or boyfriend for non-married couples, but yes, if you mean am I his wife in all but the asking and paperwork."

Thor smiled wide at that. He flicked his fingers towards the other room where Bruce currently was. "Bruce worries of his other self. He..." Thor frowned. "I fear I must be indelicate."

Forcing herself not to roll her eyes, Betty made a go on gesture with her hand. "Just say it."

"He will not lay with you to give you children."

"Uh, no. Not...well, we haven't since before he ended up with the other self." Betty narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you ask?"

Thor looked at her. "I am the Thunderer, but that is not _all_ I am."

Betty racked her brain for the unused Norse myths she'd not needed since her second year of college. "Uh..."

He clapped her on the shoulder. "Yes, I am very capable." He winked down at her. "I can give you a small gift." He glanced at the ceiling. "Nothing important to anyone else." He looked at her again. "To ensure your children with Bruce will not be born dual natured, nor you harmed in carrying them."

Betty grabbed his hand. "Could you make a male safe for Bruce to love as well? Not to carry children, but just to...lay with?"

Thor raised his eyebrows. "Aye."

Betty grinned. "What would I owe you for these two gifts?"

"There is a small girl I wish to rescue from her imprisonment. She is my niece and she'll need foster parents." He smiled as she started to pull back. "No, I would only ask for you to...how is it said, sit with the baby?"

"Babysit?"

Thor nodded, smiling wide. "Yes, that's the proper word."

Betty bit her lip and then nodded. "Yes, yes. I'll babysit."

"Thank you, Betty Banner." Thor kissed her forehead and rubbed the spot with his thumb. "Wait a day, please."

She nodded, feeling a little lightheaded. "Alright."

****

Bruce frowned as he found Betty coming down the hall smelling like Thor and looking dazed. "Betty?"

She smiled wide and pretty at him. "Bruce." She wrapped herself around him and jumped a little.

He caught her up and hefted her on up high enough to carry. She tucked her face into the junction of his neck and shoulder. "Betty?"

"I'm so happy." She kissed his neck. "Are you brave yet?"

Bruce carried her towards their room and ignored Natasha backing into the kitchen out of their way. "What do you mean?"

She kissed him again as he kicked the suite door closed behind them. She dropped her legs, so Bruce let her down in the doorway to their bedroom.

"Betty? What do you mean, brave?"

She sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at him. "You like Tony, right?"

Bruce fidgeted as he tried to figure out what was going on. "Yes?"

She scooted forward and grabbed his hands. "Bruce, honey. Sit down."

He sank down next to her and kept his thumbs rubbing over her hands. "Betty?"

She kissed the end of his nose, quick and light. "Bruce, love, you remember what you were like before you got up the courage to ask me out? Shuffling your feet, avoiding looking at me, any of that ring a bell?"

Bruce frowned. "I remember."

She nodded. "And now you are doing it all over again with Tony."

Bruce shook his head. "What? No...I..." He looked down at their hands. "Betty..."

She kissed his forehead. "There's nothing wrong, Bruce. I'm not mad."

He started to shake. "I don't want...You're the most important..."

Betty wrapped him up in herself. "Oh, no. Hey, Bruce, I'm not going anywhere. What did you learn in pre-school, silly?"

Bruce kept shaking as he tried to figure out what she was..."Sharing. You want...Sharing?"

She pulled back just enough to beam at him. "Sharing. I promised Tony I'd help him get into your pants if he'd help me put you to bed last night."

Bruce blinked over and over. "Why?"

Betty cupped the side of his face. "You want him. He wants you." She rubbed her thumb over his cheek. "I want you to be happy and I like him too." She cocked her head. "I was going to wait until you were brave, but I don't want you to think you have to chose between us when you don't have to."

****

Tony fell off the couch onto the floor as Thor kissed his forehead. "What the hell? Hey!" He swiped at the spot on his forehead and blinked as he felt lighter. "What did you just _do_?"

Thor beamed at him and helped Tony up off the floor. "Given you a small gift within my powers." He hugged Tony to his side.

"Okay." Tony pushed at Thor's ribs. "What sort of gift?"

Thor cupped the back of Tony's head and looked down at him with a serious expression. "You were ill before we meet. Bruce will worry that he could make you ill again. Now...you need not fear of this illness."

"You..." Tony blinked. "You radiation proofed me? Bruce is low level, it shouldn't...Yeah, he'd worry and just veto everything if he gives it any thought." Tony looked up at Thor. "Why do you think I need such a gift?"

Thor beamed. "Betty said as such."

****

Bruce watched Betty sleep as he thought things through. Now that she'd pointed it out, yes, he was doing bashful shuffling around Tony. He was...Bruce spread his hands across his thighs. He was interested in Tony. Bruce touched his love for Betty and found it warmed him, encompassed him even more than it used to do.

Bruce could feel a warmth like the one for Betty, small, but growing, whenever he thought about Tony. "I'm falling in love with Tony Stark." He nodded as he listened to himself say it. Yes, it felt right. Real. "I love Betty." Bruce blew out a breath. That felt right and real as well.

There was a knock on the suite door.

"Come in."

Tony slipped in and closed the door behind himself. "Hey."

Bruce could feel a blush trying to creep up. He stroked his hand down Betty's arm. "Hi, Tony."

Tony drifted around the room, looking at things here and there before coming over to sit on the coffee table in front of Bruce. "She napping?"

Bruce nodded. "She seemed drunk a little bit ago. She said Thor gave her a gift."

Tony giggled and covered his mouth with one hand. "Awesome."

Bruce frowned. "Tony..."

"Thor gave me a gift too." He put his knees against Bruce's knees. "Brucey, I know you love Betty." Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "Could you..." He glanced up and then back down. "Could you like me?"

Bruce caught Tony's hand and held it between his own. "Tony, I like you." Bruce checked Tony's pupils as he looked him in the eye. "Betty says she wants to share."

Tony nodded. "She sounds like the man with the plan. Only she's, you know, a woman." He grinned. "Can I sleep with you?" He put his other hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Not a euphemism. This time."

Bruce snorted. "I'll agree to be shared if you help me put her to bed."

Tony threw back his head and laughed.

****


	2. Chapter 2

****

Betty woke up to find Bruce sprawled between Tony and herself. She frowned at the stress showing on Tony's face even in sleep. Yawning, she sat up and reached across Bruce to tug the hem of Tony's shirt up a couple of inches.

"Oh." She bit her lip as she ghosted her fingers across the bruising. She pushed his shirt out of her way to follow the line of his ribs around to his back. All black, with purple edging. 

Bruce caught her hand as she pulled Tony's shirt back into place. "Betty?"

She laid down with her chin on Bruce's shoulder. "He needs better padding."

Bruce pursed his lips. "I think he'd put it in if he could."

Betty thumped him on the collarbone. "Pretend he is you on a guilt trip. Would you comfort yourself without me prodding you into it?"

Bruce turned his head to look at Tony. "Oh." He wrapped his arm and Betty's back. "Are you sure, Betty? About...this?"

Betty smiled and didn't call Tony on his having woken up and still pretending to be asleep. "I'm sure. Two hot men, one I've loved for years, and the other that accepts my first man without qualms? Are you kidding me, Bruce?"

Bruce blinked and rubbed at his hair. "Hot?"

Betty touched the tip of his nose with her finger. "Before and after." She tugged lightly on his earlobe. "Don't you dare shoot yourself in the head again."

Bruce nodded. "Yeah. I...I wasn't in a good place."

She rolled her eyes. "No shit." She poked Tony in the ribs. "Quit pretending and help me convince Bruce he's as hot as you."

Tony grinned and then opened his eyes. "Nobody is as hot as me."

Betty snorted. "Did Thor come find you?"

Tony rolled more towards them and propped himself up on one elbow, the glow of his reactor faint through his shirt. "He did." Tony tapped his reactor with his fingertips. "I powered the arc with palladium before I synthesized what's in there now." 

Bruce's head came up off his pillow, moving Betty with him as he scrambled to sit up against the headboard. "Palladium? What the hell, Tony? That'd kill you."

Tony shrugged. "It was, but then I switched, and now it isn't anymore."

Bruce ran his fingers over Tony's head and down the back of his neck. "How much toxicity were you left with?"

Tony made a so-so motion with his hand. "Eh, not bad. Thing is, after Thor's little gift I rechecked this morning while you two were snoring."

Betty shifted and sat up, crossing her legs under herself. "It has gone down."

"Yeah, half a percent an hour for several hours now. I think I'm going to completely clear up."

Bruce blinked. "You scrub radiation now?"

Tony grinned. "Thor was doing it so we wouldn't have to worry about you, cupcake. Clearing me is just icing."

Bruce looked at Betty. "Wait...Both of you." He blinked and looked down at his hands. "I don't even know if the other guy would pass genetically."

Betty put her hand on his forearm and squeezed. "We don't have to worry about that either."

"Oh." Bruce wrapped her in a hug and rolled her down between him and Tony. Bruce grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him into Betty's side. Bruce kept them both in his embrace as he trembled.

Betty turned her head to smile at Tony looking a little shellshocked.

****

Betty stayed in the Tower and read SGC briefs while the Avengers went to see Thor off to take Loki back to Asgard. "Okay, so the little Roswells aren't Thor's Asgard?"

Sheppard put a bowl of popcorn down and whapped Ronon's hand as he tried to pull it closer to him. "Right. The short ones just took the names on when they started watching us centuries ago. Tony thinks they probably missed each other by a few decades."

Betty flipped a page. "The thing that saved Coulson is addictive?"

Sheppard shrugged. "From what I understand only if you use it over and over when you aren't really injured. It happened to Dr. Jackson once." Sheppard took a sip of his beer. "O'Neill still holds the record on deaths, I think."

Ronon nodded. "Yeah. Teal'c said he's up on Daniel by about fifteen or so. No one is sure because O'Neill got captured and lost count."

Betty put aside that report. "Okay. No more about that right now. Transporters."

Sheppard smiled. "There's, let's see, Asgard ones, Ancient ones, transport rings..." He turned his head towards Ronon. "Do we count the Gate?"

Ronon wrinkled his nose. "No. That's a wormhole, not a transport."

Betty closed the file she was on. "How exactly do you normally read someone into this _mess_?"

Sheppard took another sip of his beer and leaned back in his seat. "You could have it worse. Tony flew into Jumper on accident and knocked himself out, freaked out JARVIS, startled me into a missile mis-fire, and dropped us all straight into a 302 that was escorting us."

Nodding, Betty poked through the piles of reports around her. "Okay, 302. That was that not-a-jet I saw it here somewhere..." She glanced at Sheppard. "What's a Jumper?"

Sheppard snorted. "Ma'am, you don't have to know it all by the time they get back."

"No, I know that." She pushed her glasses back up her nose. "How did Tony not know the Jumper was there?"

"It cloaks itself."

"Oh." She took her glasses off. "Without visual distortions at the edge of the cloak?"

****

Bruce tried not to smile too big as Tony turned their car into his private garage at the base of the Tower. "How did you meet Sheppard?"

Tony turned them into a parking space and shut off the car. "There's this thing called a Puddle-jumper, Jumper for short, that flies. Looks like a metal tube with angle cut ends. Anyway, flies, right? Only it cloaks. No energy signature, heat, nothing."

Bruce raised his eyebrows. "You flew into it."

"I couldn't see it! Sheppard should have moved, but I was at mach 2 or something, I don't remember. He thought he being attacked so he fired missiles." Tony grinned. "With his mind!" Tony lead Bruce into a workshop with bits of Iron Man armor laying around. "I think I can use something like the Ancient system that allows the neural link for the armor."

Bruce frowned and took it all in as Tony kept moving. "You dodged the missiles?"

Tony made a rude noise as he lead them into the elevator. "Those things have better homing than anything Earth-based. Sheppard figured out I was _me_ and called them off." 

They came out on the Penthouse level and headed into the dinning room. Sheppard was flying paper airplanes that Ronon was knocking out of the air with thrown popcorn as Betty read.

"This is the read-in material?" Bruce leaned down to look at the boxes lined up along one wall.

Betty shook her head. "This is year one condensed."

Tony glanced it over and nodded. "Yeah. You should see the full files. They refuse to even put them on computers."

Sheppard flew a plane at Tony. "Considering the amount of times the computers have either tired to kill us, did kill us, or turned into people shaped nano-bot things that tried to blow us up? Yeah, paper is favored for full record keeping."

Bruce sat down next to Betty. "Which pile are you done with?"

She pushed a pile towards him. "Tony, do you know what a Wraith is?"

Tony grimaced. "They suck." He flipped through the report in front of him. "Literally."

Bruce lifted his head. "What?"

Ronon hit Tony in the side of the head with a piece of popcorn. "They are trying to wipe out my home galaxy, don't joke about them."

Betty jerked her head up. "Home galaxy?"

Sheppard grinned. "Pegasus." His smile faded. "The Wraith eat life energy they steal from people. They'll age you in seconds."

Bruce ran his fingers through his hair as he thought about that. "Can you tell them apart from humans?"

Sheppard nodded. "Mostly gray, gray-blue. Usually tall with hands that have a feeding slit in the palm." Sheppard squinted at the ceiling as he thought. "They smell too."

Bruce nodded. "Alright, something to avoid then. I don't want to see what they'd do with gamma-laced energy."

"Yeah, one super-Wraith fight was plenty."

Ronon snorted. "I think we ought to let the green man loose in a Hive."

"If it were planet side so he couldn't kill himself with a hole in the hull, oh, yeah, that'd be awesome."

"Hive?" Betty looked from Bruce to Sheppard. "How many of them are there?"

Sheppard leaned forward and snagged his beer bottle. "Lots less than there where when I accidentally woke them up."

Ronon threw popcorn at Sheppard. "You didn't know. Teyla would kick your ass if she heard you."

Sheppard sighed. "Yeah." He grinned at Betty. "Good thing she's not here, huh?"

Betty smiled at him. "I could twist your ear for her."

Bruce laughed and ducked his head as everyone looked at him. "She would."

Betty leaned against his shoulder for a moment before standing up and stretching. "How do you get across a galaxy? The Gate wormhole things?"

Sheppard nodded. "Stargates. We think the Ancients seeded them across the universe on most of the planets that could handle their race. You can form a wormhole from one gate to another as long as you've got enough power and the address."

Betty frowned. "What about drift? Do the addresses adjust over time?"

Tony poked Bruce in the arm. "I think I love her."

Bruce rolled his eyes as he smiled.

****

Bruce kept plowing through the SGC papers until Coulson sat down across from him. "I'm glad you survived."

Coulson looked a little surprised. "Thank you, Doctor." He poked at the nearest pile of reports. "What's all this?"

Bruce yawned and looked over at Betty sprawled across her pile, asleep. "Reading-in on the SGC."

"Ah." Coulson started looking through the reports in front of him. "Have you gotten to the one where Earth was attacked by monster lego-like crabs that spit acid? They're called Replicators." He frowned. "So are the human shaped ones."

Bruce glanced at him. "Do the human shaped ones spit acid?"

"Not that I know of." Coulson looked at him. "I was on an SG team before retiring to SHEILD."

"SHEILD is your retirement?"

Coulson shrugged. "I didn't want to join my uncle in MIB and..."

Betty lifted her head. "What's the MIB? And don't tell me it deals with something mundane like the fate of the country or something."

Coulson took a sip of his coffee. "They regulate and police all registered and unregistered aliens living on the planet." He put his cup back down on the table. "Also, they don't exist."

Betty yawned and rubbed her eyes. "And your uncle doesn't work for them at all."

"Exactly." Coulson produced a tablet from about his person and held it out towards Bruce. "We're moving Dr. Foster to the Tower as soon as she's done consulting where she's at now."

Betty leaned over to look at the tablet with Bruce. "Dr. Jane Foster? That one you said was wacky and brillant?"

Bruce nodded. "Emphasis on the wacky."

Betty elbowed him.

"And the brillant." Bruce flicked through the tablet screens. "Do you think she's going to be upset that she missed seeing Thor?"

Betty frowned. "Why would she...Oh." She looked at Coulson. "Thor likes her?"

Coulson nodded. "They are mutually interested."

"Huh." Betty rifled through the reports. "I thought I saw something about longevity in here somewhere..."

"What?"

Betty looked at them both. "Uh, think about it." She shook her head a little as they both stared at her blankly. "Thor is how old?"

"Oh."

"Ah." Bruce started down through his pile. "You mean the nano tech or the fountain of youth or the sarcophagus?"

Betty shrugged. "I think we need a list."

****


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this chapter before going to see Iron Man 3. I was a little surprised that they gave him anxiety like I had head-cannon for after the battle for New York. 
> 
> There are panic attacks in this chapter.

****

Tony frowned down at Betty as he pulled down on the hem of his shirt. "Just go wait out there."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "What about 'no' didn't you hear? You have to have a cleaning routine for it and your hand is too big to fit clear down in." She tilted her chin up slightly and held up her hands. "See? Tiny. So tell me how you handle cleaning it and I'll help if you need help."

Tony glanced at Bruce in the doorway. "Need some help here, buddy."

Bruce made a face. "She has a point, Tony. If you can't clean it effectively on your own then it'll eventually cause you problems."

Tony backed against the bathroom counter. "No, no. I'm good." He covered his rector with his hand. He fingered the cloth over it as he frowned. "I...I don't need help."

Betty stepped back. "Oh." She sat down on the bench for the shower. "I'm so sorry, Tony. I wasn't trying to..." Betty porsed her lips. "I'm not thinking about taking it from you."

Tony gasped and nearly fell over as Bruce braced him up from the side. "No help."

Bruce met Betty's eyes over Tony's shoulder.

Betty bit her lip as she stood up. "Tony?"

Tony tried to concentrate on breathing. He scrabbled at his shirt, trying to feel for it. He needed to know it was still there.

Bruce slipped Tony's shirt up and out of the way, exposing the bruising across Tony's torso. "Tony, hey. Listen to me. Here. Feel the reactor?"

Tony's hand clenched at it as Betty pried his other hand from his pant leg to join the first hand. "No."

Betty patted his forearms. "Okay. No. I hear you."

Tony turned his face into Bruce's neck. "Don't let Obi get it."

Bruce frowned as Betty mouthed the name. Bruce soothed Tony's hair back where it was trying to stick to Tony's damp forehead. "Tony..."

"Master Stark, Obidiah Stane is deceased. He is unable to reacquire your arc reactor."

Betty and Bruce looked up at the ceiling as Tony closed his eyes.

"Sure, J?"

"Certain, sir."

Tony nodded and slumped in Bruce's arms. "Dead. Right, Pep hit the button." He rubbed at the reactor and smiled faintly at Betty looking at him. "He took it from me."

Bruce's arm snaked around Tony's stomach. "He was wrong to do that, Tony. Betty isn't going to do that. Neither am I."

Tony let his hands drop. "Sorry."

Betty touched his lowered hand. "I'm sorry. It was my fault for pushing."

Tony blinked. "You didn't know." He pulled her in against him. "You didn't know and you were trying to be helpful."

Betty sniffed hard and Bruce wrapped them both in his arms.

****

Tony sat on the edge of the bed as Bruce gentled Betty to sleep. "It wasn't her fault."

Bruce soothed her hair back as she slept. "She disagrees with you on that."

Tony huffed and stripped his shirt up and over his head. "She's sort of right. My hands are too big. Pepper helped once. Before Obi." He clicked the reactor out of lock position and turned it a little. "There's a discharge I have to clean out. I worry I'm going to have an immune reaction to it one of these days."

Bruce's hand laid over his arm, back near his elbow. "Tony, put it back in place."

Tony huffed and poked Betty awake.

Betty frowned at him. "What? Bruce has a second side you know. I want this side tonight."

Tony grinned at her. "Sit up a minute."

Betty yawned and sat up. "What is it?" She tilted her head at him.

Tony pulled the reactor out and gestured to the port. "Why did you even think about what I need to do with it?"

Betty put her hand on Tony's spine. "Honey, put it back now, alright?"

Tony blinked and refitted the reactor. He took a deep breathe. "Why?"

Betty touched Tony's ribs. "You have a shortened depth to your breathing. I got to thinking about it when I was reading about the Jaffa modifications to humans to make them Jaffa." She patted his ribs. "You have big hands, Tony."

He smiled "I bet you say that to all the guys."

Betty tapped his ribs with her fingernails. "Just you and Bruce. You're banged up from the fighting and I haven't meet anyone else around here with hands small enough to be helpful."

Tony nodded. "I'll let you help in the morning. You can't _touch_ the arc though."

"Sure. Only if you want to in the morning, though." Betty petted his hair. "Come to bed?"

Bruce moved over as Betty put Tony in the middle, his shirt still off. "Tony, do you want anything on these bruises?"

Tony curled up against him. "Nah. They don't hurt that much."

Bruce and Betty exchanged looks over him.

****

Bruce woke up to a weird puffing sound. Blinking in the dark, the faint glow of Tony's reactor showing faintly along Tony's face and shoulder, Bruce frowned as he realized the puffing was Tony's breathing between faint sobs.

Pressing his hand to Tony's spine, Bruce nudged the back of Tony's neck with his nose. "Tony?"

Tony whimpered and clutched at the pillow under his head. He mumbled about air and stars into the fabric of his sleeve.

Bruce rubbed at his eyes and pulled Tony gently to him. "You are in bed with me and Betty. We are all alive and well, Tony."

Betty moved against Bruce's back. "Bruce?"

He patted her hip. "I'm right here. Tony's having a nightmare."

Betty sat halfway up and leaned over Bruce. "He isn't awake?"

Bruce rubbed more firmly as Tony muttered about air again. "No, I don't know if it'll be better to try to wake him or not."

"If possible, please allow him to sleep, Dr. Banner."

Bruce glanced over at the clock on the bedside where JARVIS voice was coming from in a low volume. "Alright. He's not sleeping well?"

"He has developed difficulties staying asleep."

Tony turned his head. "J?"

Bruce rubbed his thumb across Tony's temple. "He's fine, Tony. JARVIS is protecting you so you can sleep."

Tony sighed and seemed to relax again.

Betty ran her fingers down the outside of Bruce's bicep. "We should put socks on him tomorrow night."

"Socks?" Bruce rearranged them so he was on his back, Tony rolled over to burrow into Bruce's shoulder.

Betty settled along Bruce's side and slipped a leg over his. "Socks. The warmer we get his feet and hands, but feet is more important, the better he'll sleep."

Bruce kissed her. "Worth a try."

They drifted back to sleep.

****

Tony leaned against the bathroom sink and watched Betty fidget. "I'm fine with it."

She frowned at him. "Uh huh. Sure. You can change your mind."

He rolled his eyes and unlocked the reactor. "The discharge isn't dangerous to you."

Betty nodded. "I'll be quick."

Tony nodded and pulled the reactor. He held it tightly in his hands as Betty quickly wiped inside the port. Tony kept his eyes locked on Bruce, sitting on the edge of the tub, watching.

Betty pulled back and frowned. "Done?"

Tony turned to look at the port in the mirror and smiled over his shoulder at Betty as he clicked the reactor back into place. "Done. See? No problem."

Bruce pulled Tony into a hug and that's when it hit Tony that he was trembling.

Betty patted them each on the shoulder. "You don't have to do that again, Tony."

Tony blinked. "Why not? I don't have small hands."

Betty ran her hand over his hair. "You're trembling like a leaf, Tony."

"So?" Tony pulled away from them both. "I can do whatever I want." He clutched at the edge of the sink. "I'm...fine."

Bruce poked Tony in one of his bruises. "No, you aren't fine."

Tony jerked at the poke and glared half-heartily at Bruce. "I could be."

"You could be having anxiety about what's happened. About the world almost being invaded by aliens."

"I stopped them."

"Yeah, by going through a wormhole expecting not to come back."

Tony started to gasp for breath. "Stop..."

Betty pulled on Bruce's arm. "Bruce, honey, not helping."

Bruce frowned. "Okay, right." He gently herded Tony out of the bathroom. "Let's sit down, okay, Tony?"

Tony nodded, clutching at his chest, panting, as they lead him to the bed. "I...fine. I'm okay."

Betty crawled onto the bed and they settled Tony to sit between her legs. "Yes, you are going to be alright."

Bruce knelt down in front of Tony and gently massaged the hand Tony wasn't clutching to his chest. "Slow down. Pick one thing and focus on it. Like my thumb. What's my thumb doing right now, Tony?"

Tony frowned, blinked, and stared down at Bruce's hand on his. "Stroking me?"

"Yeah, breathe with me, please."

Tony nodded and followed Bruce's breathing until the knot in his chest eased up. "Sorry."

Betty wrapped herself around his back. "Don't be."

"Tony, have you thought about going back to your house in on the West Coast?"

Tony scrubbed his hand over his face. "I...Yeah, that's a good idea." He grinned at them both. "Want to have a sleepover at my house?"

****


	4. Chapter 4

****

Tony batted at U. "You just have to roll into the crate. I promise we'll get you there before your charge has a chance to go half down."

U swung around again and tried to roll the opposite direction from the crate.

"Sir, U is asking to remain here. He is insistant that road trips are too dangerous for robots."

Dum-E clacked his pincher from his own crate, where his housing had been secured down.

Tony turned his head and glared at Dum-E. "Not really helping, Dummy. U, it won't even be that long."

U made a rude noise and rolled over to hide behind Tony's roadster.

With a sigh, Tony threw up his hand. "Fine, fine. If you want to stay here, that's fine. Don't think I'll forget your rebellion, you overgrown child."

U spun happily around as Tony tightened the last strap on Butterfingers.

"Sir, Dummy is inquiring as to weither they will be allowed to maintain communications with U."

Tony huffed as he pushed himself back up. He patted Dum-E on the side of his actuator arm. "Don't worry. I'm not that mean. J, active their secure network. Keep them separate from the main servers." He stroked U's housing. "You have to remember to charge up. If you let it go down you won't be able to talk to them, got it?"

U nodded with his claw before turning to push on the crate Dum-E was secured in.

"Hey! No helping. The forklift isn't here yet. Stop it, U."

****

Bruce smiled as Betty leaned against him as Tony's vehicle appeared from the Tower's garage. "That's huge."

Betty cocked her head. "He did say we were taking the robots."

Tony stuck his head out the vehicle's door. "Come on, slow pokes."

Bruce rolled his eyes as he followed Betty up into the RV-like vehicle. "The robots all fit?"

Tony gestured to the back of the bus. "Only Butterfingers and Dummy wanted to come. I've got them strapped down." He eyed Betty. "You let them know where you were going?"

She smiled. "General O'Neill said I'm on leave until he hashes out a sharing deal with a certain company over my continued employment."

Tony grinned. "Awesome." He herded them towards the couch along the curbside wall. "Sit, sit. Happy won't go until we are all sitting."

Bruce let himself relax into the couch cushions as the bus moved slowly down the battle torn streets.

****

The house was huge. Betty was certain that she could get lost in it if it weren't for JARVIS and his directions when she felt lost. She stared out the window. "It's really pretty."

Bruce came to stand at her shoulder. "Lots of water."

She tipped her head up to look at him. "Are you alright?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

Betty frowned after him as Bruce headed down the stairs from the living room to Tony's workshop. "JARVIS, does Tony have you following Bruce's vitals?"

"Yes, Dr. Banner."

"Hmm." She trailed her hand over the back of the couch as she headed for the stairs. "What about Tony? I assume you've got an idea on when he last slept?"

"Indeed, I do, Dr. Banner. Master Stark last slept on the trip across country."

Betty grimaced. "That was like half an hour at a time." She let herself into the workshop and found Bruce watching Tony work on an armor. Betty moved around to the side to see the Mark number. "Nine?"

Tony started and stared at her with wide eyes. He looked so tired. "I number them."

"I know that." She moved in and soothed a hand down his arm as Bruce came up on the other side of him. "Tony, you were on seven in the battle, isn't that right?"

Tony nodded and then turned to frown at Bruce bracing him up from the other side. "Yeah. I need to be ready."

Bruce smiled softly. "You'll be more ready if you sleep a little."

Tony's pace of breathing picked up. "I can't sleep."

Betty took the rag Dum-E had rolled over to them with. "How about we try? Warm shower and then bed, how about that?"

Tony stiffened. "I...water isn't for funtimes anymore."

Betty frowned as Bruce's eyebrows went up.

"No, Tony. Betty wasn't meaning sex in the shower. She meant actually showering."

Tony's expression fell. "Oh."

Betty took Tony's elbow. "We can talk about sex after you've slept."

Tony let himself be lead. "I'm not that tired."

Betty and Bruce exchanged glances as they maneuvered Tony through the door of his workshop.

****

Bruce held Tony upright through most of their shower. Betty held out a towel as Bruce gently pushed Tony from the water towards her. "He's out of it."

Betty nodded as she slipped socks onto Tony's feet. "I think the nightmares are getting worse."

"Seems like it, yeah." Bruce checked that Tony was mostly asleep before hefting Tony up into a bridal carry. "Turn the covers down for me?"

"Sure." Betty hurried ahead of them.

Bruce settled Tony, naked except for the socks into bed. "Think we should wrangle a shirt onto him?"

She leaned against him as they watched Tony twitch in his sleep. "Maybe not? I'm not sure. He flip flops about how he feels about the arc reactor and it being covered."

"True." Bruce found one of Tony's band shirts. "Here, I'll hold him upright."

Betty nodded and between them they slipped Tony's shirt on and then Bruce found a pair of boxers to pull on him as well.

They tucked the covers around Tony. 

Betty turned to Bruce and touched his chest. "You tired?"

He kissed the tip of her nose. "It's the middle of the afternoon, Betty." He jerked his thumb towards the bathroom. "Want to see if I can keep control?"

She grinned. "Oh, God, yes." She ran her fingers through Tony's hair. "JARVIS, please tell us if he needs us, no matter what we're doing at the time. Alright?"

"Yes, Dr. Banner."

She grabbed Bruce's hand and pulled him towards the bathroom.

****

Tony woke up warm and cozy. There was hair in Tony's face and it took him a moment to realize that he was in bed. "J, wasn't I in the workshop?"

"Doctors Banner and Banner persuaded you to take a shower and go to bed, sir."

"Huh." Tony pushed Betty's hair out of his face and looked over her to Bruce snoring, laying on his back. Tony yawned. "Is it morning yet, JARVIS?"

"It is two o'clock in the morning, sir."

Tony nodded and slipped from the bed. He looked down at the shirt and boxers he was in. He didn't remember them either. Weird. "You got Mark Nine's specs up?"

"You asked for that Mark to be produced, sir."

"Oh." Tony blinked and pull up the blank template armor. "Okay, then. Designate this Mark Ten, J. Let's see. I can't flip around like the spy-ninja not-quite-twins. Let's go for flexibility with this one."

****

Bruce woke up to Tony working on a display while sitting at the edge of their bed. Betty was sprawled between them dead to the world. Bruce reached over her to touch Tony's spine. "Hey."

Tony whirled and blinked blearily at him. "Oh. Hey."

Bruce yawned. "Can you put down the tablet for a while?"

Tony bit his lip and frowned down at the tablet. "I need to be ready."

"Yeah?" Bruce patted Tony's knee. "I need to be calm. Can you help me with that? Just for an hour."

Putting the tablet aside, Tony slid down until he was even with them. "An hour?"

"Yeah." Bruce tugged Tony's arm over Betty to clasp against Bruce's chest. "My green rage monster likes you."

Tony's smile was faded with exhaustion. "He does like me." He lowered his head to Betty's shoulder. "He caught me."

Bruce kissed Tony's knuckles. "He did. I think he might even do it again, if you ever need it."

Tony's eyes fluttered. "I love him."

Bruce tugged the covers up over Tony's shoulder. "That's good. I think my rage monster loves you too, Tony."

Tony's grin widened as his eyes fell closed. "Don't tell Bruce yet. He'll run...away."

Bruce kissed Tony's hand again before tucking up closer to Betty. "We'll just see about that."

****


End file.
